US PET Recycling rate held steady in 2014

The US PET recycling activity report for 2014 published by NAPCOR and APR indicates that the country’s PET container recycling rate held steady at 31%.

SPOKANE : The report on Postconsumer PET container recycling activity in 2014, released by the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) and the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR) states that the PET container recycling rate in the US held steady around 31% in 2014 for the third year in a row. The rate is slightly lower when compared with the rate of 31.2% in 2013.

US PET Recycling rate held steady in 2014

According to the report, the total weight of PET bottles and jars available in the United States for recycling in 2014 was 5,849 million pounds, a 1.5 percent increase over 2013. It includes 394 million pounds of postconsumer PET recyclate. Increased bottled water sales contributed to higher volume of PET bottles available for recycling in the US market. On the other hand, drop in carbonated soft drink sales impacted the PET volumes.

By weight, the US collected 1,812 million pounds of postconsumer PET bottles in 2014. The bottle collection volume has gone higher by 14 million pounds over 2013. Out of this, 1,398 million pounds were purchased by US reclaimers. Another 404 million pounds were purchased by export markets and the balance 10 million pounds constituted the PET bottle component of the mixed bales exported out of the country.

The volume of bottles purchased by US reclaimers was up by 5% when compared to 2013. This accounted for 77% of all bottlers collected by the US, up from 74% in 2013. The imports of postconsumer bottles by US reclaimers surged higher to 177 million pounds, significantly higher when compared with 149 million pounds imported in 2013.

The volume of PET bottles purchased by reclaimers outside of the US including the PET sold in mixed bottle bale shipments accounted for 23% of the total US bottles collected. This is the lowest volume of export since 2004. The exports to Canada remained more or less flat at 45 million pounds. Exports to the Far East region plunged by more than 53% year-on-year to 369 million pounds.